Connecting means



H. A. DOUGLAS,

CONNECTING MEANS 7 Original Filed Jan. 18, 1933 April 26, 1938.

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Harrs .A 'Da ias ATTORNILYS Patented Apr. '26, 1938 UNITED STATES CONNECTING MEANS Harry A. Douglas,

Bronson, Mich., assignor to Kingston Products Corporation, a corporation of Indiana Original application January 18, 1933,,Serial No.

- 652,290. Divided and 28, 1936, Serial No.

this application October 1 Claim. -(Cl. 173-269) This invention relates to connecting means, more particularly for electrical conductors, and the principal object of my invention is to provide new and improved connecting means of this type.

Other objects will appear hereinafter as the description of the invention proceeds.

The present application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial Number 652,290, filed January 18, 1933.

In the drawing accompanying this specification, and forming part of this application, I have shown, for purposes of illustration, several forms which my invention may assume. In this drawmg:

Figure 1 is an axial section of one form of connecting means embodying my invention, certain parts being shown in elevation,

Figure 2 is an elevational View of the socket portion of the connecting means shown in Fig- 90 ure 1,

Figure 3 is an elevational view on a smaller scale showing the connecting means of Figure 1 in use in transverse position,

Figure 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is an elevational view of another embodiment of my invention, parts being broken away to show a difierent embodiment of aspring detent or biasing means,

of the spring detent or biasing means shown in Figure 5, and

Figure 7 is a side view, partly in section, of a difierent embodiment of a spring detent.

In the illustrative construction, I have shown a conventional spark-plug I such as is commonly used in internal combustion engines and having the usual central electrode terminating at the top of the plug in a threaded stud Z to which, in accordance with customary practice, is connected the high tension lead of. the electric ignition system, by means of a nut (not shown) screwed upon the stud 2. In certain motor block constructions, for example, where the spark-plug is received in rather a deep pocket in the motor block, it is frequently difficult to attach the lead to the stud 2 by ordinary connecting means in which the lead approaches the stud in a transverse direction. In accordance with a more specific aspect of my invention, I have provided improved connecting means by which without the addition of any parts to the spark-plug, the lead may be connected thereto by the simple rectilinear, movement of a snap socket or terminal either axially, as shown in Figure 1, or transversely as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is an end view, in separatedrelation,

For this purpose I have shown a hollow metallic jack or socket portion 3 to which the lead wire 4 is axially connected. In this instance, the end of the wire 4 is bared of its insulation 5 and is passed through an exteriorly threaded 5 sleeve 5 and folded back as at 7 upon the exterior of this sleeve. The sleeve 6 is'then threadedly received in the interiorly threaded socket 8 in the base of the jack 3, the wire thus being securely clamped between the threads of the parts 6 and 8 affording a good mechanical and electrical connection between the wire and the jack. To provide room for the bent over portion 7 of the wire, the sleeve 6 in the region of, this portion of the wire, may be longitudinally grooved as at 9, in accordance with my patent, Number 1,339,694, issued May 11, 1920. The sleeve 6 is desirably enlarged as at ill to receive a portion of the insulation '5 and the jack 3 when screwed upon the sleeve portion 6 desirably abuts the enlargement ID.

The jack 3 is here shown as having a plurality of transversely related bores or recesses therein, one of said bores, such as the bore l i, being coaxial with the jack and the other, the bore l2, being transverse thereto. In this instance these bores desirably intersect perpendicularly and are served by a single spring pressed detent l3. As shown in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, the detent It may be formed upon the free end of a leaf spring l4 riveted at its base 15 to the base of the jack by the rivet flange it, the leaf spring thus providing a spring arm which extends along the exterior of the jack, normally spaced therefrom, and having its free end turned at right angles thereto, to project through a detent aperture II in the jack, in the form of the integral detent l3. The aperture ll intersects both the bores l l and i2. As will be noted, the spring arm 54 extends tangentially, that is, generally in the direction of. a tangent to the bore l2. The spring arm !4 may be bowed, as at Ma, to enhance its spring effect.

The jack 3 is thus adapted to receive the member to be connected thereto, represented in Figures 1, 3, 4, and 5, by the stud 2 of the sparkplug within either the axial bore H of the jack or the transverse bore 12, so that the lead 4 may be connected thereto either axially, as shown in Figure 1, or transversely as shown in Figures 3 and 4. At the same time, the detent I3 is in position to yieldingly engage the stud regardless of which of the bores receives the stud. It will be noted that the bore I2 extends all the way the screw threads E8 of the bore H and the The screwdesirably of the same pitch screw-threadslB of the bore 'l2. threads l8 and 19 are as the conventional pitch for the screw threads of the stud 2, but are of less height, so that the threads of the stud 2 may slide over the threads [8 or is as the case may be, but be pressed into intimate intercalation therewith by the spring 7 detent I3.

i in Figures 2 and 3, so

' ed jack or socket -means,

V In the illustrated embodiment of my invention the detent I3 desirably has an arcuate tip 20 to slide resiliently over the threads of the stud 2'and while this tip is shown flat in this instance, I advantageously dispose it diagonally to both of the axes of the bores or recesses I l and I2, that is at an angle to both of the general directions of movement of the stud 2 into the respective bores or recesses l l' and I 2, as best shown that its edges will neither undesirably catch the end of the stud 2 as it is inserted into either of the bores H or 12, nor undesirably catch in the'threads oi the stud 2. As shown in Figure 5, however, this same result may be accomplished by providing a detent. 2| having a dome shaped tip 22 and secured to a spring arm 23 (corresponding to the spring arm M) as by being riveted thereto at 24, or, asshown in Figure 7 a spring arm 25 may be circularly depressed as at 26 to provide an integral detent .21 also having a dome-shaped tip 28,.

While I have illustrated my invention as embodied in arelatively stationary plug -or stud, and,particularly, the threaded stud of a sparkplug cooperable with a relatively movable threadit will be understood that neither the 'stud nor the jackcneed be threaded, but, if desired, the socket and plug may be otherwise relatively so constructed and arranged as to give a snap. or holding action. Also, that the jack, or socket means, on the one 7 hand, may be the relatively stationary part, and

on the other hand,

the stud, or plug, the relatively movable part.

the plug conductor terminal is disposed;

From the foregoing it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that each of the illustrated embodimentsof my invention provides a new and.

means may assume individually different forms,

some of which are further illustrated in my copending application Serial Number 652,290, filed Jan. 18, 1933, and in my co-pending application SerialcNumber 107,978, filed Oct. 28, 1936, from which it will be further apparent that said elements of the combinations, singly or collectively, may be embodied in other combinations than those illustrated, without departing from the spirit of myinvention, or sacrificing all of-the advantages thereof, and that accordingly, the departuresmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and what is claimed.

I claim: 7

Means, for receiving and holding a plug conductor terminal, comprising: socket means, having intersecting recesses forreceiving a plug conductor terminal in either of said recesses, and having an aperture communicating with each of said recesses; movable means, extending into said aperture, constructed and arrangedto con-5 strict said recesses at their intersection, said movable means having cam surfaces cooperable respectively with a plug conductor terminal insertedin either of 'said recesses, to cause repression of said movable means as said plug conductor terminal is inserted ineither of said recesses; and resilient rneans for resiliently biasing said movable means in a direction to 'constrict said recesses, to press the plugconductor terminal laterally against a Wall of that recess in said resilient means and said'movable means being constructed integrally from a single sheet metal stamping and said movable means comprising a flat portion the general plane oi which extends I at an angle to the axes of both of said recesses.

ARRY A. DOUGLAS.

which 

